Warfare 2
Preparing an attack When attacking another player it is important to be well prepared. Attacking without a plan or any knowledge of your opponent and his armies will likely result in a defeat, and in Supremacy 1914 a defeat means that in 9 out of 10 cases you will be thrown out of the game. Below you will find some useful pointers on what to do before declaring war on another player 'Which resources do I need more of?' It is especially important in the beginning of a game to plan resource-wise where to expand. If you only capture provinces which you already have plenty of, you may end up crippling your economy and war-industry for mid-game. Focus on capturing provinces with such resources you need. Example: You're playing as Great Britain in the 10-player-map. You have plenty of coal and iron, but less lumber, grain and oil. You might find a good spot to annex all of Sweden and you're especially thrilled over getting an oil province. However, taking over Sweden will only make your shortage of food worse. You won't be able to build yourself a competetive army, and risk getting invaded by another player. 'What is the strength of foreign armies?' A country with a weak army is a good target. There are several ways of estimating the size of another country: *'Espionage - '''Intelligence spies can reveal the location of foreign armies in a smaller area and sabotage spies can reveal all armies. But using spies poses the risk of your plans being revealed since spies have a chance of being caught. Additionally you can't choose which mission a spy will make, so getting military information isn't that easy. *'Daily European -''' Every now and then the Daily European will publish an automatically generated article which reveals the sizes of every army in percentage of all armies on the map. But remember that it doesn't reveal anything regarding the morale, the actual size in numbers and the amount of mech units. So a unit with low ranking can actually be very strong, and vice-versa. The DE also publishes articles regarding casualties in wars and everytime a railgun or a battleship is produced. All these articles will give an estimate of foreign armies for those who care to read them. *'Scouting -' Scouting with balloons, fighters and land units around the borders of a foreign country may reveal something about its armies, but will surely alert the country of your intentions. *'Share Maps -' Attacking a country with whom you have shared maps lets you know the exact strength and location of its armies, but he'll also know yours. And attacking (or "backstabbing") someone you're allied with can result in trouble if it becomes general knowledge in the game. 'Should I attack alone or with an ally?' An ally will make the attack easier, but A war is not just a matter between the attacker and the defender, other countries will often try to get involved looking to gain something. In later stages of the game you tend to know who you're going to fight with. Fighting for positions in the Index of Power - rankings becomes relevant and alliances are usually already made. But in early- and mid stages of a game you might have alot of possible targets to attack. Choosing your target includes the study of every possible aspect of the player and his country that the game offers. Choosing a country to attack 'Your needs' Make an assessment regarding what resources you need, otherwise you may end up in large economical problems. For instance, annexing all of Sweden would be a bad idea for Great Britain in early game. Great Britain has too little food from the beginning, and since every new province you gain consumes food and Sweden only has three food provinces, your shortage would become a real problem. On the other hand a deal with Russia or Germany where Britain gets all the oil and food of Sweden would be a good plan. 'Strength of army' A country with a weak army is a good target. The easiest ways to estimate the size of foreign armies is a) espionage, b) Daily European, c) scouting and d) shared maps. *'Espionage - '''Intelligence spies can reveal the location of foreign armies in a smaller area and sabotage spies can reveal all armies. But using spies poses the risk of your plans being revealed since spies have a chance of being caught. Additionally you can't choose which mission a spy will make, so getting military information isn't that easy. *'Daily European -''' Every now and then the Daily European will publish an automatically generated article which reveals the sizes of every army in percentage of all armies on the map. But remember that it doesn't reveal anything regarding the morale, the actual size in numbers and the amount of mech units. So a unit with low ranking can actually be very strong, and vice-versa. The DE also publishes articles regarding casualties in wars and everytime a railgun or a battleship is produced. All these articles will give an estimate of foreign armies for those who care to read them. *'Scouting -' Scouting with balloons, fighters and land units around the borders of a foreign country may reveal something about its armies, but will surely alert the country of your intentions. *'Share Maps -' Attacking a country with whom you have shared maps lets you know the exact strength and location of its armies, but he'll also know yours. And attacking (or "backstabbing") someone you're allied with can result in trouble if it becomes general knowledge in the game. 3. Finishing your attack Just because you've successfully captured a a few provinces does not mean your enemy will not counterattack. One strategy to defend against invaders is to simply draw all your troops back to a choke point and give up the provinces after that point. Many players have been fooled into thinking the enemy is so weak he cannot defend his country at all, and proceed to rush straight into a high leveled fortress. The war is not won by capturing a couple of provinces, it is crucial to regularly check enemy troops movements and adjust your plan accordingly. Casualties vs. Speed In the case of any attack, there is a tradeoff between the speed at which you take over provinces and the number of casualties you will face. It is critical to determine the optimal rate of attack and how many casualities you're willing to take during your attack. A quick overview of the tradeoff is shown below.